【明報專訊】As the city's first major exhibition after its full return to normal, the "Hong Kong International Jewellery Show" has drawn tens of thousands of overseas buyers. The exhibition hall is teeming with people in numbers comparable to pre-pandemic levels. This is a shot in the arm for Hong Kong's convention and exhibition industry. However, the hurried setting up of booths and the poor hospitality at the venue have highlighted the challenge of manpower shortage in Hong Kong's post-pandemic reconstruction.
Before the pandemic, the convention and exhibition industry brought tens of billions of dollars in economic benefits to Hong Kong every year. However, Hong Kong's borders remained closed prolongedly amid the pandemic. In contrast, the city's competitors such as Singapore basically returned to normal in the second half of last year. Some international exhibitions and large-scale events originally conducted in Hong Kong were relocated to other parts of the world. Some people worried that Hong Kong's "international exhibition centre" status would be gone forever. The Hong Kong International Jewellery Show held this week (1-5 March) is the first major international exhibition after Hong Kong has fully reopened its borders and returned to normal. On the first day, the exhibition venue was packed with people. Such an enthusiastic atmosphere will go some way towards dispelling overly pessimistic sentiments.
The budget proposed that an additional $200 million be allocated to the Hong Kong Tourism Board to line up more international conferences and exhibitions in the city. This will have a positive effect on accelerating the recovery of the convention and exhibition industry. However, the manpower bottleneck the industry faces must be overcome as soon as possible. Otherwise, even if Hong Kong is successful in bringing in even more major conventions and exhibition events, the industry will find it hard to swallow in one gulp.
Take the International Jewellery Show as an example. Exhibitors said that in the same predicament as tour operators, the short-staffed convention and exhibition industry has to "leave some customers unserved". Buyers complained that they had queued for three hours to enter the venue on the first day of the expo. Some had managed to finish setting up booths just before the event opened, but the lighting system was inadequate. As contractors explained, they too suffered from manpower shortage as their workers had changed job fields. All these affect the experiences of buyers and exhibitors.
Over the past 20 years, Hong Kong has had a continuously falling birth rate; its fertility rate has shown an obvious downward trend. A shrinking labour population was in the making long ago. Before the pandemic, certain industries were already moaning about staff shortages. The post-pandemic recovery and an emigration wave intensify the problem. Hong Kong's manpower can no longer support the scale of its current economy, let alone cope with its long-term developments with an ageing population. The authorities need to evaluate comprehensively the short-, medium- and long-term manpower demand, devise population policies, import more foreign workers, promote the movement of persons in the Greater Bay Area and widen the door for mainlanders to travel southward and work in Hong Kong.
If we look around the world, we can see that as a leading metropolis, New York City has a permanent population of only about 8 million. The reason is that it is closely linked with surrounding cities, forming a megalopolis with a population of more than 20 million. The population in the area is highly mobile, with people working in New York City in the daytime and returning to the city where they live after work.
The integration of the Greater Bay Area will presumably also develop in this direction. If there are many development opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong people will naturally travel northward. Similarly, as long as Hong Kong provides good opportunities and good jobs, it also attracts Greater Bay Area residents to come southward. The key is for the authorities to remove the obstacles and lower the cost of their travel.
明報社評2023.03.03：「展覽之都」重現光芒 人手荒折射深層問題
本港全面復常後首個大型展覽「香港國際珠寶展」，海外買家數以萬計，會場人潮如鰂，不遜疫前，為重振本港會展業注入強心針，然而攤位趕工搭建、現場接待不周等情况，同時亦突顯本港疫後重建所面對的人力不足挑戰。
疫前會展業每年為香港帶來數百億元經濟效益，然而疫下香港久未開關，相比之下，新加坡等競爭對手，去年下半年已基本復常，部分原先在港舉行的國際展覽及大型活動，選擇移師外地舉行，一些人擔心本港「國際展覽之都」地位一去不返。本周舉行的香港國際珠寶展，是香港全面通關復常後首場國際大型展覽，首日展覽場地人山人海，熾熱氣氛多少有助驅散之前過度悲觀的情緒。
財政預算案提出向旅發局額外撥款2億元，爭取更多國際會議及展覽在港舉行，這對於加快會展業復蘇有積極作用，可是業界面對的人力瓶頸，必須盡快克服，否則就算成功爭取更多會展盛事來港，業界也「啃不下」。
以今次國際珠寶展為例，有參展商表示，目前展覽業跟旅遊業一樣，出現「有客無人接」困境，有買家反映展覽首日排隊逾3小時才能入場；亦有參展攤位在開展前才勉強搭起，燈光配套不足，根據承建商解釋，問題同樣是工人已轉行、人手短缺。凡此種種，都會影響買家及參展商的體驗。
過去20年，香港出生率持續下跌，少子化趨勢明顯，勞動人口萎縮伏線早埋，疫前一些行業已有人手不足之嘆，疫後復常及移民潮令到問題更加尖銳。本港的人力已支持不了現有經濟規模，遑論應付人口老化下的長遠發展。當局需要全面評估短、中、長期人力需求，制訂人口政策，增加輸入外地工人，以及促進大灣區人員流動，擴闊南下來港工作之門。
放眼外國，紐約市作為首屈一指大都會，常住人口只有800萬左右，原因是它跟周邊城市緊密扣連，構成一個逾2000萬人口的城市群，區內人口高度流動，白天到紐約市上班，下班回到所住城市。
大灣區融合，相信也將會朝這一方向發展。大灣區發展機遇多，自然會吸引港人北上；同一道理，只要香港能夠提供好機遇、好工作，一樣可以吸引灣區居民南下，關鍵是當局要為人員往來拆牆鬆綁及降低成本。
■Glossary
生字
teem with (sth) : to be full of people, animals, etc. moving around
line up : to arrange for an event or activity to happen, or arrange for sb to be available to do sth
megalopolis : a very large city or group of cities where a great number of people live